


Change of Pace

by Rona1776



Series: Barista Keith - College AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 10:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13188300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona1776/pseuds/Rona1776
Summary: When Keith, a college student, takes a year off from school, he ends up working in a small coffee shop. He's done the same routine for the past few months of being a barista. And its across from the university and is dreading the new school year full of cranky and tired college students.But what happens when a customers comes in and starts flirting with Keith? He's thrown off guard by him and has no idea what to do.





	Change of Pace

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is for the Secret Santa Klance Holiday Exchange 2017!  
> If you want to read it on tumblr and check out the giftee its on my tumblr: Rona-1776
> 
> Also huge thanks to my friend [LuckyThirdShot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luckythirdshot) for betaing this for me! Your suggestions and comments were really great!

Keith yawned as he walked through the doors of the small coffee shop. The bell chimed loudly at the top of the door and he cringed. He hated the early morning shift, and today was the first day that the university started classes. Since they were the were the only coffee shop close enough that wasn’t overpriced, he knew that he was going to have to deal with tired, angry college students.

He saw Shiro walk out from the back room with his coffee shop apron already on. He smiled widely at Keith and he wondered how he could be so happy at six in the morning.

“Good to see that you made it on time. I wasn’t sure if you were even going to come in today.” He walked over the espresso machines and turned them on getting them ready for the customers.

“I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay at home in bed, but I knew you would just lecture me later.” He walked to the back room grabbing his apron and lazily tying it around him. When he walked back out to the counter, Shiro had Keith’s register on and ready to go.

“Well we both agreed as long as you aren’t going to college you have to work. Besides, this shop is peaceful most of the time.”

“Yeah, until school starts and I have to deal with a bunch of cranky students getting angry at me early in the morning.” Keith sighed already dreading the day.

“Look, you only have a six hour shift today. I think you’ll survive.” He gave Keith a warm smile hoping to lighten his mood a little. He appreciated it but he knew what was to come today.

\--------------------

The morning went by fast for Keith. A few students who came in were mostly tired and didn’t say much to Keith other than their orders which he was thankful for. He really wasn’t much for small talk with customers while they were ordering.

He was just finishing up an order for someone when the bell chimed at the door. At a quick glance he saw he saw two dark skinned guys walk in. One was taller than the other one and the shorter of the two had a cheery smile on his face.

His current customer walked down to wait for his drink to be made and Keith saw the shorter guy who just walked in make his way to his register. Keith barely noticed the glint in the man's eyes as he approached. Now that he was closer Keith got a better look at him. His hair was chestnut brown, and his eyes were a bright blue. Looking closer he could even make out a few faint freckles covering his nose. He quickly got back into his work and grabbed a coffee cup.

“What can I get for you today?” the same words he’d repeated countless times were monotone. 

The man in front of him leaned forward and put on a slight smirk. With a flirtatious tone responded, “Hmm. Well I'd like to get your number.”

Keith at first didn't register what he said, not expecting the sudden flirting. He froze for a minute before looking directing at the man who still worse the smirk.

“U-Uh, what?” Came his very intelligent response.

The man chuckled, repeating his question with a slightly more flirting tone. Keith finally reacted with a full blown blush that he felt spread all across his face and down his neck. Of all things today he never expected someone flirting with him. 

Keith heard Shiro quietly snicker beside him and it bought him out his slight daze. “J-Just give me your actual order already.” He furrowed his brows and looked away from the other. He still felt his cheeks slightly burning from the whole ordeal but didn’t pay any attention to it. The man quietly chuckled and gave his order and name, Lance, before moving away from the register. He felt slight relief as Lance left, as if he could breathe properly. Beside him he saw Shiro make his drink and hand it off to Lance who took it happily to his table.

“You had a pretty strong reaction to that Lance guy. Seemed to have an effect on you.” Shiro chuckled and Keith knew that he was looking at his still red cheeks.

“Shut it, Shiro.” Keith grumbled and risked a glance at Lance who was happily chatting with the other person he came in with and drinking his coffee. He let out a sigh and looked at the clock to see that his shift was finally over. “I’m heading out now. See ya.” He quickly checked out of his register and walked to the back of the store where he untied his apron and hung it up. He took a deep breath to calm himself down as well as his red face before he left.

He grabbed his red jacket then made a beeline for the front door, not even giving Lance a glance as he passed. The bell chimed loudly above him as he swung the door open and headed out. He had no car or other mode of transportation so he he had to take the bus everyday. Normally he didn’t mind but it was slightly a hassle on the days he had to work. Thankfully with Shiro being in charge of the shop he didn’t mind as long as he got to work on time.

As he walked to his bus stop he noticed the air was stiff and hard to breathe. He hated August. He hated the heat. He much prefered a colder climate than a stifling hot one. When he younger he was forced to live in a desert for most of his childhood and hated it. Even after he got older he never left because he wasn't sure where to go, and didn’t really have any money to move anywhere.

He approached the bus stop and there was thankfully an open seat under the awning. It was still hot but at least the sun wasn’t beating down on his head anymore. The bus came quickly enough and he let a few people get on before himself. As he took a seat near the window the bus jolted forward as it started to move. Keith looked out at the passing buildings barely paying any mind to them as he saw them almost everyday. It was mainly just campus housing and other diners lining up near the university. They were there to draw in hungry students during the day and at late hours of the night. 

When the bus reached his street he got off the bus. It took only a few minutes of walking before he was in front of his apartment building. He was on the second floor, so he went inside, made his way up the stairs and reached his door. He grabbed his keys from his pocket and picked through them before he got the right one and put it in the key hole, unlocking the door. Once he was inside the small studio apartment he flopped onto his couch. He really didn’t have anything to do today not having any classes or people to hang out with. All the people he knew where either working or starting classes, which left him alone most of the time.

He decided to do what he normally does on day like this. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV where he switched to the conspiracy theory channel. He let the time pass as show after show played as he let the day fade away.

\--------------------

The next day, Keith was getting ready to head out the gym. It was his day off from the coffee shop and decided to make good use of it. He already packed his gym bag with an extra set of clothes to change into when he was done, and a few bottles of water. He slung the bag over his shoulder already halfway out the door when his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his back pocket to find Shiro calling him. Keith groaned already knowing why he was calling. He tapped answer and held up the phone.

“Yeah, Shiro?”

“Hey, Keith, I’d hate to ask you to come in on your day off but… we’re kinda busy and one of the workers called in sick today. We’re short staffed right now. It won’t be a full shift and I’ll pay you extra for coming in.”

Keith sighed. He preferred going to the gym, but he knew that Shiro wouldn’t have called if it was something he could handle by himself.

“Alright. I’ll try to get there as quick as I can.” He heard Shiro sigh a breath of relief from his end.

“Thank you, Keith. Seriously.” Keith heard someone call Shiro’s name through the phone and heard a hasty “goodbye” before the call cut off.

“Guess I’ll just go to the gym tomorrow. Oh well.”

It didn’t take very long for Keith to reach the coffee shop. His bus was slightly late but once he finally walked into the coffee shop, he understood why Shiro called him in. The line for the register was long and he could already see that the worker on the espresso machine was behind even with him moving at a fast pace.

He quickly went to the back of the store and put on the uniform apron. When he showed up behind the counter he saw Shiro physically relax at the sight of him. 

“Keith, thank goodness. If you could just make the orders and help out there we should be good.” He was already writing down two orders.

“Got it.” Keith immediately went to work and sped up the process getting the drinks out much to customers pleasure. It took a good 20 minutes of orders flowing in one after another, but it was finally slowing down to a pace where he and other worker on the espresso machine didn’t have to work as fast. It finally slowed down to a manageable pace where only two or three people came up for an order.

Keith could finally breathe. It was one drink after another and he was happy that no customer came back complaining about their order. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up.

“Hey I wanted to say thanks again. I know you didn’t have to come in but it was a big help.” Shiro smiled at him. 

“It’s no problem. It sounded like you needed help.”

“We really did. Thankfully Allura is about to come in soon so once she does you can leave if you want to. We shouldn’t need an extra person after that.” Keith nodded and kept working until Allura came in to take his place. He was free to go and put his apron away before he left. He was in the seating area when he saw a familiar face walk in. It was Lance, but this time he walked in alone. He had a smile on his face like the one from yesterday. He must of been staring too long because Lance finally looked in his direction and smiled. Keith’s heart jumped as Lance walked over to him.

“Hey there.” He put on the same flirty smile from last time and Keith willed himself to not get affected this time.

“Hey…” He wasn’t really sure how to respond so he just left it at that. He wasn’t really sure what Lance wanted with him.

He saw him smile and chuckle at him. “You’re pretty shy aren’t you?”

Keith shrugged. It was more like he didn't know how to respond to someone like Lance. “What do you want?”

“Well to be honest I was hoping to find you today. I wanted to ask you something yesterday but you left kinda quickly.” Keith gave him a questioning look. “I wanted to ask if you would be interested in a date.”

“W-What?” Keith felt his cheeks flare. He couldn’t have stopped it even if he wanted to. “W-Why?”

“Cause I think you’re cute. Plus, your blushing is adorable.” Keith glared at that.

“I’m not adorable.” Lance smiled at him.

“Yeah you are. Especially with how you’re acting right now with your blush.” Keith looked away as he put a hand to face as if he could hide it. Of course he couldn’t and all he felt was the heat of his face on his hand. “So, how about it?”

“Well…” Looking back up at Lance he saw a hopeful expression instead of the flirty one from a few moments ago. It was a different expression and Keith found himself nodding to him. Lance smiled and Keith swore the room lit up at his expression.

“Great! How about tomorrow? I’m free after 4.”

“Yeah, okay. That sounds good.”

“I know this small park near the campus. If you know where it is we could meet up there?” Keith nodded still a little surprised that this was happening. “Alright, see you tomorrow then.” He winked at Keith before he turned and left the small shop. Keith let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He sat down at the closest table and heard Shiro laughing at him.

“What’s so funny?”

“Seeing you get so worked up over a small date. It’s kinda funny. It’s not that big of a deal.” 

Keith just glared at him. “Whatever, I’m leaving.” He heard Shiro laugh one more time.

“Good luck tomorrow!” He heard him call but decided to ignore him. His cheeks still felt hot on the way to the bus stop but told himself it was just the August heat.

\--------------------

It was 4 o’clock and Keith was standing in front of the entrance to the small park. It wasn’t anything too special; just a small place for students to spend time at. Keith had been here a few times last year when he was student, but since deciding to take a year off he hadn’t been back since.

However, as he was standing there now he was nervous. He knew he shouldn’t be. Shiro was right, it was just a small date, but his nerves were acting up. He hadn’t been on a date, or a proper one at least, in a long time. What if Lance just decided to ditch him and he stood in front of the park waiting for someone that wasn’t coming? What if Lance didn’t like how he looked? Not that he cared. Of course not. Because Keith definitely didn’t change his clothes five times before coming here. Nope.

Keith looked at his phone and saw it was 4:05. He didn’t expect Lance to be exactly on time but the longer he waited the more nervous he felt. He almost wished he had the other’s number so he could could cancel or reschedule, but knew that wasn’t a good idea.

After drowning himself in more thoughts he heard heavy and rushed footsteps. Keith looked up to see Lance rushing forward. He looked out of breath like he had just run a marathon.

“S-Sorry for making you wait. I lost track of time and left late.” He panted as he reached Keith.

“It’s fine. Did you run the whole way here?”

“Yeah, my dorm isn’t too far but I was running late and decided to just sprint. I didn’t want to make you wait longer than you had to.” He was still catching his breath. He took a few more puffs of air before properly looking at Keith. “I’m happy you came. I… I was kinda worried you wouldn’t show.” He put his hand behind his neck and rubbed like he was nervous.

“Why would you think that?” Even though Keith had the same kind of thought.

“Well, you didn’t really look like you wanted to come when I asked you yesterday so I was worried. But I’m happy you did!” He smiled and Keith felt a little relieved. He didn’t think Lance would be happy to see him, but at least his worries could be put to rest now.

“I can’t say I didn’t have the same worry. But I’m relieved you came too.” He shuffled his feet before gesturing to the park. “Do you wanna go in?”

Lance nodded enthusiastically and walked beside Keith as they made their way inside. The park itself had a lot of trees that lined the sidewalk in the park keeping it shaded from the heat. Off deeper into the small field there were tables for picnics and a pond, but neither Keith or Lance brought anything for that. He wasn’t sure what he would have brought anyway.

“So,” Lance started speaking and caught Keith’s attention. “I know this is one of those generic questions, but, how long have you worked at that coffee shop? I went there a lot last year but never saw you.”

“Oh well, it’s just been for a few months. I know Shiro who’s the boss and he actually offered me a job. I needed the money after the school was going to stop giving me some. I’m actually taking a year off so my scholarship has been dropped now along with its benefits. Shiro is letting me stay there as long as I need to.”

Lance hummed in understanding.

“Let me ask you something as well.” Keith looked up at Lance. “Why me? Why did you ask me out? I’m sure there were other people you could have asked. I’m not all that interesting.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. And I told you didn’t I? I think you’re cute and I like you.” He smiled at him like the answer was obvious.

Keith ignored the compliment in favor of asking him again. “But why? You don’t know me, so you can’t say that you like me.”

“Well, that’s why we go on dates right? To get to know the other person? I do like you and want to get to know you.” His voice got lower almost as if he was nervous to say something. “Of course if you’re not comfortable with that we don’t have to go any more dates. We can just stop at this one… if you want.”

Keith was surprised. One: because he wasn’t expecting Lance to be nervous about going on more dates. The few times he met him were when he was confidently flirting with him. Two: he was just surprised he wanted to keep seeing Keith even though he didn’t know a thing about him. To honest with himself, he actually wanted to keep seeing Lance as well. He hardly knew him but he was sweet and treated him nicely so far.

“Okay.” He said. “I wouldn’t mind more dates. You’re… You’ve been really nice so…” He felt a slight warmth to his face. He looked at Lance from the corner of his eye to see him beaming down at him. Keith himself found his smile to be contagious and let a small one form as well.

After that there was a relative silence between them, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was a nice peaceful one that neither of them really wanted to break. He suddenly felt Lance’s hand brush against his.

“Is this okay?” He gestures to their hands almost touching. Wordlessly Keith nods but smiles as he feels Lance’s hand wrap around his. His hand seemed larger than his and warmer, however, he kinda liked it. Even in the late summer heat the warmth from Lance’s hand wasn’t unbearable, it was more comforting actually. He wrapped his own hand around Lance’s more securely more than happy to keep it there for as long as he could.

They continued on the path of the sidewalk until it looped around back to the beginning of the park. Keith fully expected Lance to pull his hand away but he kept it securely around his. He did feel a slight squeeze around him.

“If you want to stop here we can. If you live around here, can I walk you back?” Keith saw a nervous shimmer in his eyes.

“Well, actually I live too far away to walk so I take the bus. You could walk me to the bus stop if you wanted to though.” Lance happily nodded and they made their way to Keith’s bus stop.

“Hey I know this wasn’t the most exciting date, but I promise to do better in the future. I wasn’t sure what you liked and the park seemed like a safe choice.”

Keith heard “future dates” and couldn’t help but feel happy. “No, I liked it. I’m actually happy that you chose a park instead of the regular movie date idea. I haven’t been to that park in a while anyway so it was nice to finally go back.

“Ah, well I’m happy you had fun.” They arrived at the stop and Keith started to pull his hand away before Lance pulls him back and grabs his other one. Keith was going to ask what he was doing before he felt Lance’s lips on the crown of his forehead. Keith froze not expecting that. When Lance pulled away he could tell he was red from the warmth and Lances small laugh.

“Sorry if that sudden but I really wanted to.”

“F-Fine. It’s fine..” Keith stuttered. He really didn’t mind it was just a shock.

Lance laughed again. “Think we could meet up again tomorrow? I have another place in mind if you’re up for it.”

Keith unable to speak just nodded. Lance smiled and waved him goodbye with a wink and walked away. Keith still was reeling from the sudden kiss and clenched his hands and felt something crinkle in his hand. It was paper that Lance must have given him when he grabbed his other one. On it the paper said, “Since you didn’t give your number the first time we met I’d figured I’d give you mine instead ;)” It followed with Lance’s name and a phone number. 

He smiled before he knew it and looked fondly at the paper. He figured he really did like Lance, even if he is a little forward with his actions and flirting. He put the number in his phone and promised himself to text Lance when he got home. He was ready for another date.

**Author's Note:**

> I love barista Keith and kinda thinking of writing a sequel maybe??


End file.
